Need Advise: 1995 R1100GS motorcycle and Drivetrain problem

I really need advise. I apologize for the long story. I kind of need to get it all out. I have a 1995 BMW R1100GS. It has 54,000 miles on it. I have only owned it for 6 months. I have put about 6000 miles on it. Yesterday out for a ride I was pulling out of a parking lot and the bike just seized up. Wouldn’t go anywhere. I couldn’t even roll it back or forward for a while. After trying several times I was able to roll it backwards and forwards a bit but then it would lock up again.

Anyway, we trailered the bike home and this morning I peeled back the rubber boot that goes between the driveshaft housing and the rear final drive and several pieces of metal feel out along with a lot of Black dust including one piece that a looks like the end of a U Joint. I haven’t gotten the rest of the final drive apart yet but I hope to shortly. I am guessing its something to do with the driveshaft.

Here is where a decision has to be made. This bike is 25 years old and has a rebuilt title. I paid $1800 for it because it was in rough shape and needed some love and attention. I have put approximately $1000 into it to get it back on the road. I went on a 4500 mile ride on it and the bike always feIt like it was working too hard to maintain a speed above 70 MPH. Could the drivetrain issue I now see have anything to do with why the bike struggled at higher speeds for so long?

I don’t see any R1100GS’s out there that are selling for more than $2500 - $3000. I am already in the negative on $$ to break even on it. Basically if I put anymore more money into it I am losing money.

As far as I can tell, a new driveshaft is about $700. A rebuilt one looks to be several hundred.

I have 3 choices. I could keep spending money on it, I could sell it as a parts bike or I could part it out myself and try to make a good portion of my money back.

Any thoughts on my choices and also what may have happened to the drivetrain?

The 1100/1150 have a two piece driveshaft. It sounds like the U/J on the small section of driveshaft has broken. See if you can get a secondhand shirt section, it shouldn’t cost much.

Steptoe said:

The 1100/1150 have a two piece driveshaft. It sounds like the U/J on the small section of driveshaft has broken. See if you can get a secondhand shirt section, it shouldn’t cost much.

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Hello Freeman, Steptoe knows what he's talking about. You will have BMW specialist breakers in your part of the world. Over here we have Motoworks and Moto-Bins among others and they will ship internationally if you can'tget what you want nearer home.

Those bikes regularly serviced will do way over 100,000 miles, I ran an 1150 to 96,000 without even putting a new clutch into it although it did need a few new bearings in the final drive. Spend the money to sort the drive shaft, check the bike thoroughly for other issues and it should give you great service for years to come.

Every time you buy a new bike from a dealer you throw away about 25% of the purchase price as the difference between what you paid and what you would get re-selling it so better to fix it. Everything mechanical needs money spending to keep it in good order. If you spend "several hundred" dollars to get a rebuilt unit think of it as the maintenance cost for 6000 miles riding.

You need at least this part.
It doesn't cost so much.

Link, klik

I will finish checking out the damage and see how extensive it is. I am hoping its no more than what you said it could be and if so I will try and find a replacement part. Thanks for the help.

Ohh, look what I found.. unfortunately it’s for an 1150, plus it has the later indexed spline ..

well I removed to rear final drive unit and pulled out what I thought would be the broken lower end of the of the driveshaft. To my surprise its was the top end of the driveshaft that disintegrated. See pictures. how hard is it to remove the driveshaft case and upper swingers unit?BMW_Driveshaft_2.jpeg
BMW_Driveshaft_1.jpeg